The Born Queen - J. Gregory Keyes [153]
And so their first night under occupation passed if not pleasantly, at least without disaster. When they took to their beds that night on the floor in the kitchen, Leoff prayed that the Hansan continued to be entertained enough by them to keep his men in check.
He was breathing a little more freely three days later. Some of the men, notably a stout fellow they called Haukun, continued their leering, but Ilzereik seemed to have them under control.
On the third afternoon, he was pretending to work on the knight’s “epic” but instead was going back over the third section of the work he was beginning to think of as a kind of requiem; he heard the door burst open and Areana shout. He tried to get up too fast, toppled his stool, and fell. He grabbed his cane and pushed himself up to find himself facing the point of a sword held by a man with closely cropped sandy hair and a missing ear. He didn’t know the fellow’s name, but it was one of Ilzereik’s men.
“Easy, now,” the man said. “Qimeth jus hiri.” He jerked his head toward the common room.
Leoff went with the sword at his back. Black clouds boiled in his peripheral vision.
Haukun and three other men were there, along with Areana and Mery.
“There we go,” Haukun said. “Every one here now.”
“What is this?” Leoff said, feeling stones in his gut. “Sir Ilzereik—”
“He is gone,” Haukun said bluntly. “Called to siege. He comined back not too soon. I in charge this place now.”
“He won’t be pleased if you hurt us.”
“I care little for his pleasing,” the soldier said. “Stingy man, not understanding how to keep his men happy, you know? Sit in here every night while pretty girls make pretty music.” He pushed Mery toward the hammarharp. “You play, jah? And this one will sing. Maybe not hurt you too much. Maybe women even like it.”
Areana slapped him hard. “If you touch Mery—” But Haukun cut her off with a fist to the chin. Areana slammed against the wall and slid down, stunned, crying but making no sound.
Leoff lunged and swung his cane at the man, but something hit him hard on the back of the head, and for a while he couldn’t focus beyond that.
When he could, he realized that Mery was playing. He looked up, feeling nauseated, and saw that Haukun had forced Areana to her feet and had her pressed against the wall. Her dress had been pushed up.
“Sing,” he said, starting to take down his breeches.
Areana slitted her eyes, and the purest malice Leoff had ever seen in her peered from there. And then she did sing, and Leoff realized what Mery was playing.
“Remember,” he called hoarsely. “Remember, for saints’ sake.”
Then they were past the point of no return, and the song took them all to its end.
When it was over, Areana was huddled in a corner and Leoff couldn’t get up; every time he tried to move, his stomach started heaving again. It had been worse this time, harder to sing the counterpoint that had preserved their lives at Lord Respell’s castle.
Mery looked no worse for wear, though. She hopped down from her stool and sat with him, stroking his neck.
Haukun and the others, of course, hadn’t been so fortunate. Only Haukun was still alive, probably because he had been near enough to Areana to hear her countercant. He wasn’t well, though. He was sprawled on the floor, twitching, whining with each breath like a sick old dog.
Still trying to rise, he saw Areana come unsteadily to her feet and leave the room. She returned a moment later with a kitchen knife.
“Look away, Mery,” she said.
“Go in my study,” Leoff told the girl. “Get everything we’ve been working on. Do you understand? Then go get your thaurnharp. Don’t leave the house.”
When he could walk again, Leoff peered out the front door. He didn’t see anyone. Then he went back to look at the bodies. Areana had